


Savage Loving

by Angelgirl



Category: Dead Zone
Genre: Bruises, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-03
Updated: 2010-08-03
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:32:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelgirl/pseuds/Angelgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Johnny isn't as fragile as most people think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Savage Loving

Savage Loving  
by Angelgirl

 

Tender, gentle, careful. Ever since waking from the coma everyone  
has been careful with Johnny. Doctors, nurses, medical professionals  
all treated him as if another shock might somehow throw him back into  
a coma. Sara looks at him as if he might disappear at any moment,  
and the few times it does happen, she touches him like he's fragile  
and breakable. Just a hand so light on his arm or the delicate brush  
of fingertips; on his shoulder, on his hair. Like he might fracture  
at any moment and never recover. So she only touches him so softly.  
So gentle.

It's been even worse with the visions. It's hard to touch anyone.  
Johnny avoids it as much as anyone humanly could and still leave the  
house. Now that everyone knows about him it's both easier and harder  
because others actively try to avoid touching him at all. People  
steer clear of him on the street. Reverend Purdy is especially good  
at sidestepping without making it seem as if he's acting any  
differently. When necessary, for the press or attempting to persuade  
Johnny that he has his `best interests' at heart the good Rev will  
lightly clap Johnny on the shoulder. The look always follows, one  
Johnny sees all too often on those forced to touch him for any  
reason. He sees it on the Reverend, on Sara, even, more and more  
often now, on Dana. It's the look that tries to see if he's seeing  
anything, to see if they're revealing anything they might not want  
to.

Dana. Dana's touches were smooth and gentle. Her soft hands slid  
over his skin like silk. For a short while they warmed Johnny.  
Until the looks became more common and the touches became more  
careful, less satisfying. Until Johnny realized he was settling for  
less than what he really needed.

Everyone wants to sooth Johnny; protect Johnny. Protect him from the  
truth about his mother; protect him from too much responsibility,  
from too much stress. Especially after a vision. Sara always  
hovers, telling him to rest. Others watch him as if he might fall  
apart after each one. At least Walt simply leaves him alone to pull  
himself together. The most Johnny usually gets is a brusque "You  
alright?" which is more than enough. Johnny knows Sara gets upset  
over what she sees as the uncaring attitude, but Johnny knows that  
Walt understands better how it feels to be smothered with their  
protection.

From the moment he awoke, Bruce has been the only one who doesn't  
touch him as if he's too easily broken. He started as Johnny's  
physical therapist. Rough work for both of them, but Bruce never cut  
Johnny more slack than was absolutely necessary. He pushed hard,  
firm and sure, ignoring protests, complaints, and refusals. He  
walked all over Johnny's resistance. They got over Johnny's fear of  
being touched early on by the simply means of Bruce being matter-of-  
fact and never either making a fuss over any vision and never asking  
for more info than was offered.

As Johnny became more self-reliant, Bruce became his best friend.  
Bruce dragged Johnny, sometimes literally, back into the world of the  
living. He pushed and tugged and held Johnny in a firm grip the  
whole way. Sure, Bruce caught Johnny when he fell; held him up. He  
was there when Johnny needed someone to lean on, but Bruce always  
knew when to step up and when to push Johnny forward on his own.  
Bruce was there side by side with Johnny, shoulders brushing as they  
walked into whatever trouble of the day. And he was there, grabbing  
Johnny and shaking him when the blond was willing to sink back into  
his shell. No pleading or coaxing; no gentle words of guilt or  
persuasion, just firm, unyielding demand.

Even between the two of them, Bruce is the stronger. But instead of  
making Johnny feel weaker, Bruce makes Johnny feel invulnerable.  
When Bruce touches him Johnny feels like he can take anything the  
world can throw. Strong hands stroke over warm flesh and leave fire  
in their wake. Bruce's touch is firm and sure; guiding limbs into  
the position he desires; cradling him afterward, protecting. Johnny  
revels in the strength behind those hands. Even when gentle, they  
never offer less than he needs, never hold back as if Johnny can't  
handle the full emotion behind them.

Not to say there aren't any marks left behind after, nearly each and  
every encounter. Johnny is so easily bruised, that, although he  
leaves marks of his own on Bruce, Johnny's are always so much more  
dramatic. Even when the sex is slow and deliberate, there are marks  
left over. After the first time, when Bruce saw him in the early  
morning light, there were long, babbling apologies and promises to be  
more careful. Johnny was quick to nip any such thoughts firmly in  
the bud. He savors everything Bruce leaves behind; a thousand words  
painted across Johnny's pale skin. From sucking `kiss' marks, that  
Johnny sometimes has to wear high collars to hide from the incessant  
scrutiny, to the trailing bite marks that wind down his back, across  
his chest and abdomen and thighs. And most especially the bruising  
hand prints left on his hips from the sheer force of Bruce's grip  
when they thrust, slam together. Then there are the scratches along  
ribs and back or legs, depending on how and where they fall against  
each other to start again and further evidence of their inability to  
always make it to the bed. There are multi-colored bruises in all  
shapes and sizes; softer, rounded ones from the corners of the couch;  
sharper, darker ones from knocking against the coffee table or  
chairs; and dark lines from the edge of the counter or kitchen  
table. Even patches of carpet burn, occasionally, when they really  
get carried away. Beautiful shaded marks of passion. Marks that  
remind him he's alive. Marks that take him to that knife's edge of  
pleasure and pain. Marks that make him scream and writhe and burn,  
inside and out.

Johnny takes everything Bruce has to give and begs, quite frequently,  
for more. Bruce knows exactly what Johnny needs. Johnny wonders,  
sometimes, how he'll explain to the doctors or paramedics, the next  
time he's injured and someone sees. Then he wonders what Sara would  
think; if she'd understand the passion and need that leaves such  
marks. He knows she wouldn't. She would make wild accusations and  
demand explanations he could never give. She would never believe  
that Bruce is as gentle and protective as he ever was. That Bruce  
knows better than anyone how much Johnny can take and how to make  
sure the blond doesn't hurt himself pushing for more and greater  
heights. That Bruce allows Johnny to surrender to the pure primal  
force and lose himself in that savage love.

No, Sara would never understand, has never known, the fire that burns  
Johnny and Bruce whenever they touch. And as cut-off as the visions  
have left him, Johnny is thankful for how everything has turned out.  
Because if Johnny can only really stand for one person to touch him,  
from here on out, he wants that one person to be Bruce.

End


End file.
